M5 - Personnel EconomicsReturn

A total of 2,532 records were extracted from three databases, leading to the identification of fifteen studies for closer analysis. The overview comprehensively evaluated participants, types of intervention, activities, relevant measures and outcomes. Based on the findings, meaning-centred interventions are utilized in various workplaces, including healthcare, white-collar companies and universities. Despite insufficient quality and randomization in the studies, preventing definitive conclusions, meaning-centred interventions exhibit promising results in addressing well-being, perceived meaningfulness and other facets of living. In the future, special emphasis should be placed on factors contributing to intervention success, such as intervention frequency, type of activities and a solid framework. Additionally, randomized control trials are necessary to support these preliminary findings.
Implications for Central European audience: Meaning-centred interventions show promise for improving job satisfaction and a sense of purpose at work in Central Europe, suggesting a need for well-designed studies to confirm their benefits.

This article aims to explore current coaching practice, and national variations, with a specific focus on the Czech Republic. The data from this study was drawn from a large scale research study involving researchers in 45 European countries and approaching 3000 participants engaged in coaching and mentoring, in a variety of roles: coaches, coach commissioners, mentors and mentor scheme managers. The survey was conducted in 31 languages to enable engagement on equal terms by all participants. The results reveal that Czech coaches read less coaching research, attend fewer coaching seminars and peer groups events than their European peers, while they practice more life-coaching, education and health coaching than their peers in Europe. This suggests that there are some significant differences between Czech and European-wide coaching population. The paper provides a unique insight into the development of coaching in central Europe in comparison with other European states.

This paper reports the results of an empirical examination of leadership traits and behaviors that contributed to team performance in a major Swiss HR consulting firm. Based on personality tests, survey research, and in-depth interviews, results indicate that, in the context of the company's sales-driven, high-pressure environment, personality factors such as conscientiousness or detail-orientation seem to be better predictors of leadership success than extraversion and openness to experience. Female leaders overall outperformed their male counterparts, and experience was found to significantly contribute to superior performance. Implications for hiring, development, and succession practices are discussed.

This study examines the attitude of management students towards whistleblowing in a sample of 121 master students of business ethics at the Faculty of Economics University in Split, Croatia. The three measurement instruments include whistleblowers' attitudes (3 items), whistleblowing attitudes (2 items) and potential types of whistleblowing reactions (8 items), i.e. external reactions (4 items) and internal reactions (4 items). The results of the study indicated a positive attitude toward whistleblowing and whistleblowers. The authors also found that female students exhibited more confidence in management and were more prone to whistleblowing than male students. Also, students with professional experience considered whistleblowing to be in the public interest more than students with no professional experience. The results may be of practical use to managers who can benefit from whistleblowing while keeping in mind that whistleblowing can't be avoided and that punishing whistleblowers seems to be a bad managerial practice.

This paper researches the so-called "dark triad" personality traits of management student populations, because of their potential to generate dysfunctional organizational behavior and processes. Namely, the dark triad with characteristics such as lack of empathy, willingness to manipulate others (for self-betterment), antagonism, and belief in one's own superiority can represent a real organizational threat. The goal of this paper is to stimulate thinking and discussion around this issue. The paper is based on questionnaire measurement that adopts the standardized short dark triad measurement instrument of Jones and Paulhus (2012) who measure the scales of Machiavellianism (9 items), narcissism (9 items) and psychopathy (9 items). The sample included 150 students of professional management studies at the Faculty of Economics, University of Split in Croatia. Results of the Croatian students are compared with the results of 387 students in Canada. The results suggest significant statistical differences in the "dark triad" variables between the Canadian and Croatian samples. The practical implications of this paper are in raising awareness and stimulating the thinking of managers around the potential of the "dark triad" traits of engaged human resources to create organizational crisis, and to make preventive and responsive actions to manage the "toxic triad" threat.

This article addresses the human potential of companies as well as the motivation and retention of employees, which play a key role in reaching a company's commercial and financial goals. The article's objective is to answer questions concerning employee education as a significant tool of employee motivation and retention in the financial sector. The initial part of the article deals with the theoretical background of employee motivation and retention, methodology, and hypotheses setting. Verification of the hypotheses should lead to objective achievement by their confirmation or refusal. The hypotheses were verified and confirmed through empirical research; the author conducted research among employees of financial companies in the Czech Republic. The research was supplemented by round table discussions with the respondents. A clear result has come of the research; financial sector employees valued further education the most out of eighteen offered benefits provided by employers. The article's provides managers with recommendations.